EADS CASA

EADS-CASA
Predecessor	CASA
Successor	EADS-CASA
Founded	1926
Headquarters	Spain
Key people	Domingo Ureña-Raso
Industry	Aviation
Products	Military transport Aircraft
Employees	7500

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EADS-CASA is a Spanish aircraft manufacturer, previously Construcciones Aeronáuticas, S.A. (CASA). It has been the Spanish branch of EADS since 1999. CASA was a Spanish aircraft manufacturer, with numerous landmark military transport aircraft designs such as the CASA C-212 Aviocar, CASA C-295 or the CASA C-101 trainer/ground attack aircraft.

[edit] History

[edit] CASA

Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA(CASA) was founded by Jose Ortiz Echague in 1923 and began work in May 1924 that opened the factory in Getafe, and built Breguet aircraft under license. The first order covered 26 Breguet 19 A.2 and total production of this type eventually reached 400 aircraft.

In 1926 CASA built a second factory in Cadiz to build a licensed copy of the German Dornier Do. J Wal seaplane. CASA built 17 Do. Js for the Spanish Air Force, 12 for Naval Aviation branch of the Spanish Navy and two for commercial users. CASA also operated several branch facilities in Spain for repair and overhaul of aircraft. King Alfonso XIII visited the main factory in 1930. In 1929 the CASA-1 flew, the first CASA designed aircraft. During this time CASA a built the French Breguet XIX, two of which would be made especially famous. One, was the Breguet XIX GR (Grand Raid) named the Jesus del Gran Poder, currently preserved in the Museo del Aire de Cuatro Vientos (Madrid), which in 1929 flew an epic flight between Seville and Bahia (Brazil). This aircraft was piloted by Captains Ignacio Jiménez and Francisco Iglesias and covered 6746 km in 43 hours 50 minutes of flight. The other was the Breguet XIX Super Bidon named the Four Winds and was flown by Mariano Barberan and Collar Joaquin Serra to Havana (Cuba) in 1933. In 1932 CASA obtained from the UK aircraft company, Vickers, the license to build 25 Vickers Vildebeest land based torpedo bombers, which were powered by French Hispano 600 hp engines.

During the Spanish Civil War the CASA Getafe factory was located in the Republican zone, it was relocated to Alicante and then opened another in Sabadell (at the end of the war CASA production returned to Getafe). CASA manufacture of the Russian Polikarpov I-15 biplane fighter producing 287 aircraft before that civil war ended.

After the war, CASA opened a new plant in Tablada, Seville, after obtaining from Germany various aircraft licenses, and built 25 Gotha Go 145A as the CASA 1145, 25 Bücker Bü 133 Jungmeister as the CASA 1133 and 555 Bücker Bü 131 Jungmann as the CASA 1131. Production of these German aircraft designs continued even after the end of World War two until the late fifties. It should be noted that the CASA 201, a twin engine transport, engines were Spanish made ENMASA VAT Tigre G-125 hp engine. In 1940 CASA began the licensed manufacture of 200 Heinkel He 111s twin engine bomber as CASA 2111. (Note> These are the He-111 that have been seen in various movies like "The Battle of Britain" and "Patton".)

From 1943 the Spanish government invested in this company. Government participation began at 33%, although by 1992 it controlled 99.2% of the company. In 1945 CASA opened a factory in Madrid dedicated to machining. In 1946 CASA re-established its Project Office and resumed its own aircraft design with proprietary technology. In 1957 CASA won the contract for the maintenance of the F-100 Super Sabre of the United States Air Force in Europe, and renovation plans of Spanish Air Force T-33s. In 1962 CASA starts to build Northrop F-5 fighter under American license. In 1971 authorizing the merger of Hispano, SA. In 1972 CASA became a member of the Airbus Consortium together with France, Germany and the United Kingdom. In 1977 CASA won the contract to design and build the C-101 a trainer and attack aircraft for Spanish Air Force. In 1996 CASA joins to Eurofighter 2000 projet. In 1972, CASA becomes a member of the Economic Interest Group Airbus. In 2008 EADS-CASA starts Airbus A400M final assembly at Seville.

[edit] EADS-CASA

Since 1999 CASA has been a part of EADS, the European aerospace corporation, with Aérospatiale-Matra of France, Dornier GmbH and DASA of Germany. Since then, the Spanish branch of EADS is called EADS-CASA. The current CEO and Chairman of EADS-CASA is Domingo Ureña-Raso^[1]. Currently EADS-CASA employs around 7,500 workers.

On July 2001 EADS-CASA Military Aircraft marked the beginning of the Eurofighter Typhoon Final Assembly Phase at Getafe facilities.^[2] It is one of 4 assembly lines for the Eurofighter (the other 3 lines are at Warton in United Kingdom, Manching in Germany and Turin in Italy). Production was expected to be up to 7 wings per month and 12 aircraft per year. EADS CASA is producing the right wing for the Eurofighter and assembling 87 aircraft for the Spanish Air Force. First delivery to the Spanish Air Force was realized together with the other partner air forces in the second half of 2002.

EADS was formed in July, 2000 following the merger of Aerospatiale Matra of France, DaimlerChrysler from Germany and Construcciones Aeronáuticas S.A. from Spain. EADS is the third largest aerospace company in the world. It has approximately 100,000 employees.

[edit] Military Transport Aircraft Division (MTAD)

The MTAD is part of EADS-CASA and is based in Madrid. One of the planes it produces is the Airbus A330-200 modified to provide air to air refuelling. They have provided one variant to the Australian air force and are providing another variant to the UK's Royal Air Force via the company AirTanker. MTAD's main focus is in the light to medium end of the military transport market covering 3 to 9 tonnes. It has over 700 aircraft flying of the types C-212, C-235 and C-295.

EADS CASA’s Military Transport Aircraft Division managed the industrial and technical activities of participating companies for the Airbus A400M project. This responsibility is now managed by Airbus Military.^[3]

The A400M assembly at the Seville plant of EADS-CASA Spain started in Q1 2007. Airbus plans to manufacture thirty aircraft per year. The major assemblies arrive by Airbus Beluga transporters. The four EuroProp TP400-D6 flight test engines have been delivered in late February 2008 for the first A400M. According to EADS the first "static tests" of a dedicated A400M complete structure were started on 14 March in Spain.

[edit] CASA aircraft

CASA 352; license-built version of the German Junkers Ju 52 trimotor transport
CASA 2.111; license-built version of the German Heinkel 111 bomber
CASA 1.131 Jungmann; license-built version of the Bücker Bü 131
CASA 1.133 Jungmeister; license-built version of the Bücker Bü 133
CASA C-201 Alcotán
CASA C-202 Halcón
CASA C-207 Azor
CASA C.127; license-built version of the Dornier Do 27
CASA SF-5A; license-built version of the Northrop F-5A (also built two seater version as SF-5B)
CASA SRF-5A; license-built version of the Northrop RF-5
CASA C-223 Flamingo license-built version of the MBB 223 Flamingo
CASA C-101 Aviojet
CASA C-212 Aviocar
CASA CN-235
CASA C-295

[edit] Others

Airbus; as subcontractor supplying parts for Airbus series of civilian passenger aircraft
Airbus Military; Subcontractor for Airbus A400M
Boeing; as subconbtractor supplying parts for Boeing series of civilain passenger aircraft
Eurofighter GmbH; as subcontractor for the right wing of all production Eurofighter Typhoon

[edit] Gallery

CASA Jungmann, built 1957.	CASA 2.111 a licenced version of He-111-H Bomber was engined in Spain with imported Rolls-Royce Merlin at the end of WWII, CASA built 236 of this aircraft between 1940 and 1956.	CASA C-212 of the Swedish Coast Guard.	CASA C-295 of Polish Air Force
CASA CN-235M-100 of the Spanish Air Force.	CASA C-101 Aviojet of Patrulla Aguila Aerobatic Team.	The Eurofighter Typhoon is assembled in Spain by EADS-CASA for the Spanish Air Force	The first A400M, surrounded by EADS employees, during the aircraft's roll-out in Seville, Spain on 26 June 2008.