Alenia Aeronautica Unveils New Test Center in Turin-Caselle

Alenia Aeronautica, a Finmeccanica company, has inaugurated today in Turin-Caselle the new Ground Test Center dedicated to the testing and qualification of commercial and military aircraft. Finmeccanica’s Chairman and CEO, Pier Francesco Guarguaglini; Alenia Aeronautica’s CEO, Giovanni Bertolone; the Regional Councillor for Innovation, Internationalization and Research Policies of the Piedmont Region, Andrea Bairati; and Turin’s Deputy-Mayor, Tom Dealessandri were all present at the ceremony. The new Ground Test Center hosts the Sky Light Simulator, a facility designed and made by Alenia Aeronautica, which is capable of artificially reproducing natural ambient light conditions where aircraft operate, and can be used to test several cockpit configurations. The Ground Test Center also hosts Europe’s largest Anechoic Chamber, which was designed to test the electromagnetic compatibility of airplanes and systems and also to carry out under ideal conditions controls and checks on the performance of emitting devices, in particular in the field of radio frequencies. In opening the Ground Test Center, Alenia Aeronautica further enhances and strengthens its test and simulation infrastructures based in Turin, North Italy, which include a wind tunnel, advanced simulators for the Eurofighter, C-27J and unmanned aerial vehicles (used for both systems’ project development and for training of flight crews), and integration rigs for testing and qualifying on-board avionic systems. Furthermore, this new test infrastructure clearly indicates the company’s attention to innovation processes required to remain competitive within new complex markets. In these situations, European countries, especially Italy, must focus on technological development of integration in the complex dynamics of global commercial markets and strike a balance between tradition and innovation. Alenia Aeronautica is the largest Italian aeronautic player which operates world-wide in the commercial and military aviation, unmanned aerial vehicles and aerostructures. Alenia Aeronautica also coordinates the activities of Alenia Aermacchi and Alenia Aeronavali, respectively active in the design and manufacturing of military trainer aircraft and in the overhaul, maintenance and modification of military and civil aircraft. With its joint ventures ATR and SuperJet International, Alenia Aeronautica is the world leader in the regional turboprop market and a top player in the regional jet sector. Over 2007 Alenia Aeronautica reported revenues of 2,306 million Euros, backlog for 8,248 million Euros and orders for 3,104 million. The total workforce is 13,301.