Taiwan’s Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC) signed a Strategic Teaming Agreement (STA) with Canadian aerospace group Bombardier and held a contract handover ceremony on Monday, September 7. Economic Minister Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said at the event that the contract will benefit not only AIDC, but Taiwan’s entire aerospace supply chain.

AIDC Chairman Tsao Chin-pin (曹進平) and Bombardier’s Programs and Supply Chain Executive Vice President Éric Filion conducted the handover ceremony of the Strategic Teaming Agreement for the Challenger 3500 cockpit and forward fuselage structural components. AIDC said that the Challenger 3500 is a super mid-size business jet and the best-selling model of its class in the world. The company noted that it has participated in the Challenger program since 1999, responsible for the design and manufacturing of aft fuselage structural components.

AIDC said that the forward fuselage is the most technically demanding section of the aircraft, not only complex in shape, but also required to meet cabin pressurization sealing standards while integrating cockpit structure, passenger doors, and numerous system interfaces. It added that very few suppliers worldwide have the capability to manufacture it. The contract with Bombardier was two years in the making, with technical review completed in April. AIDC described the 20-year, full-lifecycle agreement as a milestone.

Kung said that the deal announces to the world that Taiwan has become one of the few countries with both the capability and a real-world track record of executing structural assembly and manufacturing for medium and large commercial aircraft fuselages. He added that AIDC will serve as the prime contract supplier and will work together with the domestic partners on manufacturing. That means the deal will benefit not just AIDC, but the entire aerospace supply chain.