Locally manufactured Airbus helicopter parts receive surface treatment in Gyula

At the press conference held on 29 November, Attila Kiss emphasized that Airbus Helicopters Hungary Ltd and Satys PSP had already been cooperating before, but so far, the surface treatment of components had been carried out in the Marseille plant of the company. From now on, this process is also going to be implemented in the plant of the French–Hungarian joint venture that was opened in Gyula in this February.

The Gyula plant of Airbus has been developing at a fast pace, so since its opening in 2021, the production has been going on in a three-shift schedule of work, as the Hungarian plant is being assigned more and more significant components in terms of process safety. Thanks to the continuous developments, the plant has already more than 150 workers, and thanks to this the manufacturing of rotor blades and rotor blade counterweights has begun. In contrast with earlier components, these ones need to be conserved by high-quality surface treatment, and that is why the Satys plant has been set up in Gyula.

Olivier Malherbe, Managing Director Airbus Helicopters Hungary Ltd said that besides the two market players, the scope of industrial cooperation also includes the town of Gyula, the industrial vocational training centers in Békéscsaba and Gyula, the recruitment companies as well as other industrial partners.

The Gyula plant of Satys is of key importance – not only for defence industry, but also because back in 2017, the government set the objective of renewing the rearmament process of the Hungarian Defence Forces by involving European suppliers. This objective, however, is not to be attained solely by purchasing military equipment, because, wherever possible, the government intends to bring the manufacturing capacity into Hungary as well. The development of the Hungarian armed forces is progressing according to a strategy, which states that the armed forces (including the air force) should be developed from the region of Gyula–Békéscsaba. This is to be complemented with industrial vocational training, university education, R+D and infrastructural development.

Through their collaboration, the two plants will be able to fulfil even more significant orders in the future, since the Gyula plant of Airbus has been assigned the manufacturing of certain gear components of the transmission system as well as further precision parts made of steel and titanium.

CEO Attila Kiss said that the Satys plant – which had recently been given permission to operate in Gyula – would reach its planned full capacity by 2028, when there would be 50 employees instead of the current 13 ones, and the components manufactured for Airbus would make up 40% its production volume.

Airbus helicopters play an important role in the aircraft fleet of the Hungarian Defence Forces. In the framework of the National Defence and Armed Forces Development Program, the Hungarian Defence Forces have purchased sixteen H225M and twenty H145M Airbus helicopters from the French company. The so far delivered transport and attack helicopters have entered service with the Szolnok-based HDF 86th Helicopter Wing.