Boeing Defense, Space & Security awarded a five-year contract to a German company to manufacture exterior components for the H-47 Chinook helicopter, a heavy-lift transport aircraft used extensively by the U.S. Army and other air and defense forces. Cotesa GmbH is a manufacturer or carbon fiber-reinforced composite (CFRP) components for aircraft applications, but this will be its first contact from Boeing.
Cotesa’s complex components include CFRP profiles, stiffeners and frames; multidimensional glass-fiber reinforced plastic (GFRP) sandwich structures; and hybrid parts like CFRP-transmission shafts. It also assembles complete aircraft modules in composite materials.
The value of the award has not been announced. According to Boeing Europe president Sir Michael Arthur. “The contract award to Cotesa is a testament to the technology potential we see in Germany, and another important milestone in our partnership with German industry.”
Boeing has 600 employees in Germany and a growing portfolio of research and technology projects with German manufacturers, universities, and research organizations.
The CH-47 Chinook is a twin-engine, tandem rotor heavy-lift helicopter manufactured by Boeing Rotorcraft Systems, used mainly for troop transport, artillery placement, and battlefield resupply. Boeing has delivered more than 900 H-47 Chinook helicopters that are in operation in 19 countries, including eight NATO nations.
Cotesa will manufacture portions of aircraft’s tunnel cover section, "a honeycomb-like core that makes up parts of the helicopter’s external skin."
“We are excited to join the Boeing supplier team. This contract award provides an opportunity for Cotesa and our employees to demonstrate our expertise in high-performance composite parts,” said CEO Jörg Hüsken.
