Leonardo has confirmed plans to add a second final assembly line for the AW609 tiltotor at its Grottaglie production facility in the province of Taranto in southern Italy. This would be in addition to the primary AW609 assembly line in Philadelphia.
Announced yesterday, the decision marks a strategic shift for the aerospace and defense group, which said it is diversifying the use of the Grottaglie site that had been mainly intended to build aerostructures for Boeing 787s. In a related development, Leonardo is also pausing 787 composite center fuselage barrel production to match reduced manufacturing and delivery rates at Boeing.
The decision to switch the use of the Taranto site to AW609 manufacturing follows consultation with trade unions. The company has been diversifying activities there for some time, using the plant for work such as production of the wing for the Eurodrone, fuselages for Vertical Aerospace’s VX4 eVTOL, and Leonardo’s remotely-piloted Proteus helicopters. These programs are occupying around 100 workers.
Meanwhile, Leonardo is also establishing its new Materials Technology Research and Innovation Laboratory in Grottaglie. This is a joint operation with Solvay to develop new composite materials and manufacturing processes.
The site, which has seen €300 million ($321 million) invested between 2019 and 2023, is also home to the new Aerotech Campus, which is due to admit its first cohort of engineering graduates for the 2024/25 academic year.