Fuji Heavy Industries will build the wings for the new Eclipse
500 microjet in Japan, under a strategic partnership agreement
announced here on Monday. Fuji Aerospace will deliver complete,
tested wings to Eclipse, and will also receive a license to use
Eclipse's friction-stir welding technology in other applications.
The Fuji deal, signed by Eclipse CEO Vern Raburn and Fuji Aerospace
senior vp Norihisa Matsuo, is a powerful endorsement of the Eclipse
project, "It's very similar to the endorsement that Pratt
& Whitney made in agreeing to develop an engine for us,"
says Raburn. "Companies like Fuji and United Technologies
do not take steps like this lightly."
The Fuji deal also boosts Eclipse's production facility, freeing
its own resources to build the rest of the aircraft. Raburn says
that the agreement will allow Eclipse to remain longer at Albuquerque's
Sunport Airport before moving to a new home at Double Eagle, and
the company will be able to ramp up production more quickly "although
we're not ready to make that announcement yet."
Eclipse offered customers the opportunity to cancel their orders
for the 500 when it switched to the PW610 engine earlier this year,
says Raburn. Some 65 customers cancelled, leaving the company with
"about 2,050" orders backed by non-refundable deposits.
