European Aerospace Industry Steps Forward To Fight Against Coronavirus

Name one industry which is not affected by the virus outbreak. You can’t! The global emergency is bringing down all the possible industries, and especially aircraft production. But the aerospace industry however is not giving up its confidence and is using its supply chains and technological expertise to help increase the production of much-needed medical supplies. Reputed European airline manufacturers, Airbus, Arrow Electronics, BAE Systems, GKN Aerospace, Meggitt, Rolls-Royce, Siemens, Smiths Group, and Thales are all part of a consortium that on Monday was awarded a contract by the UK government to produce10,000 medical ventilators to fight the cause.

VentilatorChallengeUK, is the group formed recently in response to Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s call for the country’s business giants to step forward and help meet rising demand for healthcare equipments. In contrast to the U.S., where President Donald Trump on Friday officially invoked the Defense Production Act to force General Motors to manufacture thousands of ventilators, most of the projects involving the aerospace sector in Europe are born from the industry’s own initiatives.  

The participants in VentilatorChallengeUK also includes industrial, technology and engineering businesses from the automotive (such as Ford and Formula One teams Mercedes, McLaren and Williams) and medical sectors—"have taken many of their people from key company projects to do this and serve the national need,” noted the consortium.

Rolls-Royce has “a crucial role to play in the fight against Covid-19,” said  Craig Askew, the UK engine maker’s Executive Vice President of Control Systems. “We are proud to be playing our part in a consortium dedicated to scaling up production of much-needed ventilators and will be focused on working at full-speed to provide devices which can help save lives.”