Thundertigers Chih Hang AFB Show 20130601f

Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC; zh, c=漢翔航空工業股份有限公司, p=Hànxiáng Hángkōng Gōngyè Gǔfèn Yǒuxiàn Gōngsī 漢翔航空工業 or 漢翔航空) is a

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

ese aerospace company based in

Taichung Taichung (, Wade–Giles: '), officially Taichung City, is a special municipality (Taiwan), special municipality in central Taiwan. Taichung is Taiwan's second-largest city, with more than 2.85 million residents, making it the largest city in Ce ...

. It is one of only two Taiwanese companies with the capabilities of a traditional American or European defense prime contractor.

History

Government ownership

AIDC was established on 1 March 1969 as the Aero Industry Development Center of the

Air Force An air force in the broadest sense is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army aviati ...

. From 1969 to 1976 AIDC co-produced 118 UH-1H's for the Taiwanese Army with Bell Helicopters. In 1983, AIDC was transferred to the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology under the Armaments Bureau. In 1996, AIDC was reorganized into a government-owned company. In 1998 AIDC entered into an agreement with

Sikorsky Aircraft Sikorsky Aircraft is an American aircraft manufacturer based in Stratford, Connecticut. It was established by the Russian-American aviation pioneer Igor Sikorsky in 1923, and was among the first companies to manufacture helicopters for civilian ...

to service the S-70 helicopter. In 2000, AIDC was divided into four units: the Aerostructures Division, the Engine Division, the Technology Division, and the Administration Division. In the early 2000s AIDC was contracted by Bell to produce the tailbooms for the AH-1Z and UH-1Y.

Public ownership

AIDC was

privatized Privatization (rendered privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation w ...

through a public stock offering on August 25, 2014 with the Taiwanese Government retaining a 39% stake. In 2016 AIDC launched a project with international partner

Lockheed Martin The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American Arms industry, defense and aerospace manufacturer with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta on March 15, 1995. It is headquartered in North ...

to develop an upgraded version of the F-16 called the F-16V. AIDC will share revenue from all future international sales and upgrades. Upgrades to 142 of Taiwan’s F-16A/B fighters to the F-16V standard began in 2016. The first four aircraft upgrades had been completed by December 2017 and American test pilots had arrived to begin their testing and certification. The first domestically upgraded fighter was delivered on October 20, 2018. The project is to be completed by 2023. In October 2019 it was announced that the program had been delayed by a manpower shortage at AIDC and a delay with the US based software testing program, AIDC hired 200 additional employees in Taichung to bring production back to schedule. By December 2020 18 upgrades had been completed. In 2018 AIDC signed an agreement with GE for the production of 17 parts for the LEAP engine including hot section components. In 2019 AIDC entered into 10 year agreement to supply engine parts to Industria de Turbo Propulsores of Spain, a subsidiary of

Rolls-Royce plc Rolls-Royce Holdings plc is a British multinational aerospace and defence company incorporated in February 2011. The company owns Rolls-Royce, a business established in 1904 which today designs, manufactures and distributes power systems for ...

. In October 2019

Boeing The Boeing Company, or simply Boeing (), is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product support s ...

cut orders to AIDC which were associated with the troubled 737 MAX program as monthly production figures were decreased. In 2019 AIDC was reported to have 2,137 employees involved in confidential projects.

Facilities and equipment

In 2016 AIDC completed a NTD 1.5b composite materials manufacturing plant in

. The facility, called the Taiwan Advanced Composite Center, has 5,500 square meters of floorspace and primarily produces components for the

Airbus A320 The Airbus A320 family is a series of narrow-body airliners developed and produced by Airbus. The A320 was launched in March 1984, Maiden flight, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air France. The first membe ...

. AIDC operates one Astra SPX aircraft as a target tug.

Headquarters

AIDC’s headquarters occupies a large suburban campus in the Northwest of Taichung next to Overseas Chinese University. The campus features historical aircraft, a restaurant, and a swimming pool for the more than 3,000 onsite employees.

Products

IDF F-CK-1A 1462 Outlet Nozzles and Underloaded Weapon 20120811

Aircraft

* AIDC F-CK-1 Ching-kuo Indigenous Defence Fighter - began as XF-6 indigenous fighter project * AIDC T-5 Brave Eagle (advanced jet trainer) * AIDC AT-3 (advanced jet trainer) ** variant XA-3 Lei Ming (single seat attack aircraft prototype) * AIDC T-CH-1 (Basic Trainer derived from

North American T-28 Trojan The North American Aviation T-28 Trojan is a Radial engine, radial-engine military trainer aircraft manufactured by North American Aviation and used by the United States Air Force and United States Navy beginning in the 1950s. Besides its use ...

) * AIDC PL-1B (Primary Trainer and licensed version of Pazmany PL-1, a two-seat trainer from Pazmany Aircraft Corporation) * AIDC XC-2 (Civil transport, prototype only) * UH-1H (utility helicopter and licensed version from

Bell Helicopter Bell Textron Inc. is an American aerospace manufacturer headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas. A subsidiary of Textron, Bell manufactures military rotorcraft at facilities in Fort Worth, and Amarillo, Texas, United States as well as commercial heli ...

) * OH-58D (Observation, attack and reconnaissance helicopter and licensed version from

) * F-5E/F Chung Cheng (license built and locally modified

Northrop F-5 The Northrop F-5 is a family of supersonic light fighter aircraft initially designed as a privately funded project in the late 1950s by Northrop Corporation. There are two main models: the original F-5A and F-5B Freedom Fighter variants, and th ...

)

Components

* Doors for all

Boeing 737 The Boeing 737 is an American narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Boeing Renton Factory, Renton factory in Washington (state), Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the t ...

aircraft since 2003 * Cockpit for Sikorsky S-92 * Rear Fuselage, Engine Pylon and the Vertical and Horizontal Stabilizer for Challenger 300/350 * Composite belly panels for the

and

Airbus A321 The Airbus A321 is a member of the Airbus A320 family of short to medium range, Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body, commercial passenger Twinjet, twin engine jet airliners; it carries 185 to 236 passengers. It has a stretched fuselage which was ...

* Both designed and produces five composite components for the

Mitsubishi MRJ The Mitsubishi SpaceJet (, originally named ''Mitsubishi Regional Jet'') was a regional jet project by Japanese company Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation (MAC), a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) subsidiary. MHI first announced the concept in J ...

* Honeywell/ITEC F124 produced in partnership with Honeywell. * Cooperation on the Rolls-Royce Pearl 700 Advance 2 engine

References

External links

Official Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation website
{{Authority control Military history of Taiwan Aerospace companies of Taiwan Companies based in Taichung Defence companies of Taiwan Manufacturing companies established in 1969 Technology companies established in 1969 1969 establishments in Taiwan