Chadderton Changes

1990s

Whilst the Taiwanese JV negotiations were taking place and seemingly close to fruition, the UK MoD required all military matters to be outside the scope of the potential JV. This meant the Design and Engineering teams employed on UK Military programmes would relocate from Woodford to Chadderton.

This created a new business unit called the Military Business Unit (MBU) and combined the Chadderton Project Management, Procurement, Logistics and Aircraft Maintenance teams (known as the Contractors Working Party) with the Design and Engineering teams.

The MBU provided in-service support to the RAF and in particular the Nimrod R and MR2 fleets, the VC10 fleet and also to the Boeing E-3 Sentry AWACS fleet in partnership with Northrop Grumman. The support to these aircraft won various awards which recognised the innovative methods to help keep aircraft operational whilst reducing support costs. Support to the aircraft continued up until the aircraft reached their out of service dates.

(Colour Photograph Top Right) - An Air to Air Refuelling RAF VC10 - Copyright BAE SYSTEMS

Chadderton continued to look for other business opportunities and a strategic relationship was developed with Japan's Kawasaki Heavy Industries. Numerous non-aviation projects were undertaken. These included the production of a composite nose section for an experimental Maglev train, assembly of robots for use in industrial settings and support to Kawasaki by designing and manufacturing railcar interior components. The railcars were for the Maryland Transport Authority in the Washington/Baltimore region, USA.

As a supplier of aerostructures, Chadderton continued to supply large structures to the British Aerospace 146/RJ rear fuselage and ATP fuselage programmes, it also took production of the 146/RJ Tailplane, Rudder and Ailerons from the previous supplier SAAB. Growing the aerostructures business saw Chadderton not only continue working on Airbus wings but also manufacturing wing stringer components for the Boeing 737 aircraft (seen opposite). The plant also diversified with a number of specialist engineering programmes including the manufacture of missile outer casings for the BAE Systems Dynamics business.

In the mid 1990s British Aerospace won a new contract for a replacement of the Nimrod MR2 fleet. Called Nimrod 2000, the contract was for 21 aircraft which was based on re-using the Nimrod MR2 fuselage and incorporating new wings, engines and mission systems. Chadderton gained responsibility for the manufacture of a brand new wing centre section.